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Monday, January 28, 2013

Teatime With Quimper

When I went to Florida last November to look at the house that was for sale next to my daughter's house, my daughter and I also visited a consignment shop there. As we were leaving the store, I spotted an 11 piece Quimper ware by the store's window, which included this coffee or teapot, cups and saucers, 4 ashtrays (which I plan to use for a dipping dish), sugar and creamer and bowls.
I asked the sales person if she could give me a discount and she gave me a 10% off. I got them all for about $111. I thought that was a good buy so I bought them and hand carried them on my flight back home.



I already have a shorter Quimper teapot but I like this tall one.
I used blue bird napkin rings.

 It's almost mardi gras time so I served a king cake.



I cut up some Carolina jessamines that are blooming outside and thought they'd be perfect in my little vases.

Thank you so much for stopping by! And a special thanks go to the dedicated hostesses. I appreciate you all!
Marty's Tabletop Tuesday at
Kathy's A Return To Loveliness
Friends Sharing Tea
Kathleen's Let's Dish
Sandi's Teatime Tues
Share Your Cup Thursday
Martha and Terri's Teacup Tues
Ruth's Tuesday Cuppa tea
Tablescape Thursday

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

A Gloomy Winter Table

We finally have good and sunny weather now. For a while there, I thought it will never stop raining.
Kathleen has a snowy and ice challenge for this week. I tell ya, having lived in the Philippines, Florida and Mississippi, this was a real challenge, I thought I would use mainly white and silver for the icy effect.

I picked to use my Johnson Brothers Friendly Village transferware for the dinnerware, which has a snowy scene.
 Silver colored hammered flatware I think gives a snowy effect too.
 I used a crocheted table cloth I bought from Grand Cayman and added 5 snowflake placemats in the center for a runner.





 I can't remember where I bought these candles but I like the color and texture. I placed them in silver holders.


I pulled out a silver mercury bottle from storage.
 I just bought this mercury silver decanter from Belk's while shopping with my friends this past weekend. Do you see the flowers on the lid? It was 50% off at $12.

I have silver napkins but could not find them and my friend saw these but they are placemats. So I just folded them pretending to be napkins, lol.


I also added some chickadee accessories including this butter dish and the teaset at one corner of the table.


 
I don't know about where you live but our cardinals are here all year long.

 
My chickadee tea set
Thanks for the challenge, Kathleen. I hope I was able to meet your expectations. I have some vase fillers that look like ice and I was going to spread them all over the table but I could not find them.
Thanks to all our gracious hostesses and to all who visit. I really do appreciate you all very much!

Katheen's Let's Dish
Share Your Cup Thursday
Susan's Tablescape Thursday
Friends Sharing Tea
Kathy's Home and Garden

Monday, January 21, 2013

Formal Living and Dining Room

Last week, I told you that we bought a vacation house in FL and showed you a little bit of the kitchen and family room. Today, I would like to share the formal living and dining rooms. This is the "Before" picture. I only had a half a day to unload all the stuff from 6 luggage and anything I shipped to my daughter's house, wash the dishes and put them away in the kitchen cabinets, so there is still so much more to do when I get back. But the house is livable.
 
They left us pretty much all of their furniture which were very clean and almost new since it was just a couple who lived there.
 
 
The view coming in from the front door.
 The furniture are so much more modern than what we have in MS but I can work with them. It is nice to have a different look.
 
Below are the "after" pictures.
 
I added an area rug that I bought from One King's Lane and had it shipped to my daughter's who lives next door with her family. Convenient, huh? I brought the runner from our MS home and placed it near the glass sliding door to catch the water from people coming from the pool. It is washable so it is more practical than decorative. I added the 2 pillows I also brought from home to add color and added the tray with little colored vases to match the rug.
 
I moved 2 matching side tables that I found in other rooms and moved a pair of lamps that I also found around the house. I added a few accessories on the tables that I had packed in the luggage. I brought anything that would fit in the luggage when we flew including a set of Old Britain Castles christmas and regular dishes and pillows to cushion them. Fortunately, only 1 dessert plate broke.

The side table in the foreground was originally on the side of the sofa and there was only one so I moved it to the loveseat side and as I mentioned earlier, placed the matching ones on either side of the longer sofa. The wall there is wider. I hang a turquoise throw on one arm rest of the loveseat just to spread the color around. I can't wait to do more when I get back. I need pictures on the wall too. There are still lots of open spaces. I would like to add decorating magazines on the bottom shelves of the tables but I was not able to bring any cause they are heavy and our luggage were already almost 50 lbs. each mostly because of the dishes that I brought.
 This is the dining room before I started decorating. They left us that dining set, in fact, it is the only furniture that I added to our offer that I presented to them, because my daughter wants to have it. To our surprise, they left us everything including 2 complete sets of bedroom furniture that looks like modern Italian in addition to all these and 2 sets of leather sofa, an Italian leather sectional in the family room. My daughter was debating if she will still take this dining set because it only has 4 chairs but she really likes the table so she might. For now, it is here so I changed the vignette on the table.
 
They left the picture on the wall too.
 The picture looks like a French cafe. They only left the big one in the center. I am not sure if I leave it there permanently but now, it is better than nothing and I do not dislike it.
 A view of the living room from the dining room at night. Love the high ceilings!
 The table top is very pretty which is what my daughter likes too. We took a quick trip to HomeGoods and I bought the vase to put the yellow flowers that I brought from our MS home. I pulled the candle holders from the luggage and place them on the table but I have no candles yet. Isn't the glass top of the table pretty?


 I added a set of blue fish S & P shakers brought from the MS home. It is so much fun to just shop from one house to another, lol. It costs nothing.
 This was taken when I was looking at the house showing my daughter, son in law and the sellers. I love this enclosed pool area and I want to put a long dining table in that covered area for future dinner parties.
 This is how close we are to my daughter's house. Tina's house is the one you see on the left. She called us when the neighbor's decided to move in a condo to another city and said "Our neighbor's house is for sale. Buy it!" And John told me to fly there tast Nov. to check it out. We flew back there last week to close. I like the tile roof.
 John saw it for the first time last week and likes it too.
 
Thanks for stopping by.
I am linking with
Susan for Metamorphosis Monday
Kathryn's Make it Pretty Monday
Masterpieces Monday
Sally's Blue Monday
Marty's Tabletop Tuesday at
Centerpiece Wed
Richella for Grace at Home
Kathy's Home and Garden
Katherine's Favorite Things Thursday
Gina for Transformation Thursday

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Happy 1st Birthday, Twin Grands Rea and Halle!

Last weekend was a beautiful sunny day in the low 80's in Florida. It was also a special weekend because we celebrated the grand twins, Rea and Halle's first birthday party.
Food is ready!
 The twins took a nap to gather enough energy for the party. I had to put Halle down to take pictures.
 while John rocked Rea to sleep





 The cakes!
 Party favors!
 Time for them to get ready and Rea got done first.

 
 The twins are walking so well now. Rea started at 10 months and Halle followed about 2 weeks later.
 Halle playing with cousin Reese.
 Ready to blow the cakes!

 Getting ready to smash their cakes.




They sure smashed them!

The guests enjoyed the water view in the backyard.
I love the reflection of the trees and houses in the water.


 
 The girls in the family.
The sun was shining brightly so there are lots of shadows here.
 Pinata time! Look at the all the clothing the kids are wearing!

They had a Bounce House set up in the backyard and all the kids had a lot of fun bouncing around. See that pretty blue?
 The family....yep, mom is having another baby girl again in May. Poor dad is outnumbered.
 Busy opening presents!

 
 The triplets watching the twins' dancing video on the laptop.
 


It was time to fly back home so we had to say goodbye to the grandkids again. We will surely miss them.
Thanks for stopping by and to the wonderful hostesses.
Linking with
Beverly's Pink Saturday

The Tablescaper's Seasonal Sunday
Sarah's Hope in Every Season 
Shadow Shot Sunday 2
Marty's Tabletop Tuesday at
Watery Wed
Outdoor Wed.